Perturbed metabolic profiles associated with muscle weakness seen in adult Ts1Cje mouse model of Down syndrome

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic condition resulting from a partial or full triplication of human chromosome 21. Besides intellectual disability, DS is frequently associated with hypotonia. Ts1Cje, mouse model of DS, displays the muscle weakness characteristic. The metabolic profiles of the skeletal muscle was characterised using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis. Ts1Cje muscle had significantly decreased levels of glutamine, guanidinoacetate, adenosine monophosphate, and histidine, suggesting perturbation of energy, glutamate, and histidine metabolic pathways. Glycine amidinotransferase/arginine glycine amidinotransferase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay indicated this mitochondrial enzyme was 74% and 50% lower in Ts1Cje kidney and liver than the wildtype respectively. In conclusion, our findings suggest that perturbed metabolite profiles contribute to muscle weakness in Ts1Cje skeletal muscle

The Social Gospel movement revisited : consequences for the church

This article introduces South African churches to the reasons why elements of the late 19th and early 20th century Social Gospel movement encourages local churches to participate in their respective communities through social contribution. The article argues that the Social Gospellers understood Christian responsibility as an imperative of ‘participatio Jesu’ through social integration of living an ethos of oikoumenē. The history of the Social Gospel should be a relevant influence on mainline churches to understand the tension in the decision to participate or withdraw from social contribution today.This article is a reworked version of a part of a PhD thesis titled ‘Globalized mission and the Social Gospel of Jesus: A postcolonial optic’, completed in the Department of New Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, at the University of Pretoria, with Prof. Ernest van Eck as supervisor. (http://hdl.handle.net/2263/46025)http://www.hts.org.zaam201